First shoe of 2016, and the first outing of the year, which the notebook makes a point of. Right trainer, black, on the towpath below the mill at Slaithwaite. Laces gone, and the sole coming away at the toe, which I noted because a sole going at the toe tells you the shoe has done some walking before it stopped.
The notebook says cold and still, frost on the setts, and I do remember the frost, because setts with frost on them want watching. Flask conditions are recorded as good, which is what you want on the ninth of January. This were before the stool, so I'll have stood or found a wall, though the notebook doesn't say which and I couldn't tell you now.
The photograph came out reasonable, which for a January morning on a towpath is as much as you can ask. A steady start to what turned out a steady year. The Slaithwaite stretch has been good to me over the years and this one were typical of it — nowt dramatic, properly recorded, and home for dinner.
Written up August 2026, from the notebook.